Worcester officials investigate claims that police protested officer’s suspension with coordinated ‘sick out’
Updated Feb 17, 2021;
The city of Worcester and its police department are investigating allegations that officers coordinated a “sick out” in response to a fellow officer receiving disciplinary measures.
The investigation stems from 14 officers calling out sick during the week Police Officer Ryan Joyal was issued a five-day suspension, MassLive learned. The officers who called out worked the same shift as Joyal, MassLive learned.
Joyal was given a five-day suspension earlier this month, sources told MassLive at the time the discipline was issued. The discipline stems from a video posted on Facebook in July that showed an officer strike man in a stretcher on Main Street in Worcester.
UMass Medical School announces partnership in large-scale COVID-19 vaccination site in Worcester
UMass Medical School Communications February 04, 2021
UMass Medical School, in partnership with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the City of Worcester, Worcester State University and Saint Vincent Hospital, will play an integral role in a COVID-19 large-scale vaccination site that will open later this month on the campus of Worcester State. The site is expected to be open on or about February 16.
City Manager Edward Augustus and Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty were joined by Worcester Public Health Medical Director Michael Hirsh, MD, Saint Vincent Hospital CEO Carolyn Jackson and UMMS Executive Vice Chancellor for Commonwealth Medicine Lisa M. Colombo in announcing this complex and strategic team effort to organize, establish, staff and manage a vaccination site that, when fully operational, will administer as many as 2,000 vaccinations per day.